TEHRAN - Deputy Head of Iran Electricity Industry Syndicate said Iran is currently the region’s top country in terms of power generation with over 85 gigawatts of installed capacity, IRNA reported.

Payam Baqeri said the electricity industry is a productive and strategic industry that is considered infrastructure for many other sectors and is a prerequisite for their development.

In this regard Iran is considered one of the most advanced countries in the region in terms of electricity industry, he said.

According to Baqeri, the electricity industry also has great potentials for exports due to its good capacities and domestic production of almost all the equipment needed in this industry.

The official noted that the country’s electricity industry has not been able to grow in proportion to its potentials and capacities over the past few years due to some problems and obstacles.

He further mentioned the current Iranian calendar year’s (started on March 21) motto which is “Production: Support and Elimination of Obstacles” and said: “this approach can create a great driving force for this industry and help it reach its development targets.”

The Islamic Republic’s total power generation capacity currently stands at about 85,500 gigawatts most of which is supplied by thermal power plants.

With a total generation capacity of 25,083 MW (nearly 31 percent) combined cycle power plants account for the biggest share in the country’s total power generation capacity followed by gas power plants generating about 30 percent.

The share of hydroelectric power plants is 19.87 percent while hydroelectric plants generate 14.8 percent of the country’s total electricity, the share of dispersed generation units is 1.5 percent and finally the renewable power plants account only for 0.79 percent of Iran’s total power generation capacity.

Iran’s electricity exports to its neighbors have also been witnessing an upward trend in the past two years as the country has been synchronizing its electricity network with that of neighboring countries.

Iran has had electricity exchanges with most of its neighbors namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, as well as the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic among which Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been solely importers of Iran’s electricity.

EF/MA